There is of course this
Drudge alert, about the hidden mandatory add-on "health" charge added
to restaurant bills in San Francisco (and spreading). Today I noticed that 24 pack cubes of Coke and Pepsi product are
now 20 pack cubes. At the same price. At least they abstained from
blurbing "New Easier to Lift" on the packages. Not unexpected in
these times though. Nothing is.

The reality of the hidden price increase gambit hit me as a
youngster. The Three Musketeer candy bar we bought for a nickel, that I
remember as being the size if a truck driver's wallet, and scored
to break into three regular sized bars, suddenly wasn't. Big. We went into the
candy store after school one day, and there it was, all small, but still costing a nickel.
We complained to the candy store guy, who was as far as we were
concerned responsible. He, the original "Soup Nazi," told us to get
the hell out of his store if we weren't buying anything. Never had a
Three Musketeer again, because I didn't really like them. Only bought
them because I was brainwashed.

What struck me about this Coke and Pepsi gambit, however, is that both
companies independently thought to do this at the same time. How
serendipitous.

Evidently a lot of parents will be taking their tots to see the new
version, unaware of it's very dark nature, so I found this thrilling
substitute. Of course some parents are beyond help.

From the British Film Institute Archive comes this first-ever film adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s book.

Made just 37 years after Lewis Carroll wrote his novel and eight years
after the birth of cinema, the adaptation was directed by Cecil
Hepworth and Percy Stow, and was based on Sir John Tenniel’s original
illustrations… With a running time of just 12 minutes (8 of which
survive), Alice in Wonderland was the longest film produced in England
at that time. Film archivists have been able to restore the film’s
original colours for the first time in over 100 years.

You are the public transportation system. Say that out loud. You are,
supposedly, the way I should transport myself. You know, to places like
“everywhere” and “anywhere”. So let me just say I’m a little bit
confused. (H/T Marc Miller)

Bunning's Best Pitch (He
gave up his filibuster in the wee hours, but ) ... Call him
crazy, but the senator is revealing the hypocrisy of Congress'
pay-as-you-go promises. It seems there's always an "emergency" to
justify adding another $10 billion or so in red ink.

Patent Reform Is a Patent Giveaway
Now that communist China has become America's banker, China is flexing
its muscles in a new way that threatens our economy and our jobs. The
buzzword is "indigenous innovation."

China has promulgated new anti-American trade rules that prohibit
imports of our products unless they are based on intellectual property
that is developed and/or owned in China, and associated trademarks are
originally registered in China. Enter lick-spittle Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Little Kid Takes Over JFK Airport Control Tower
At one point during the course of the child’s five transmissions, an
adult male voice in the tower explains the situation to local air
traffic: “This is what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.”